


Counting Figures

by theskyisblue



Series: The Lives of Two Sappy Assholes [3]
Category: Gintama
Genre: A Trip to the Onsen, Hijikata Finally Takes a Day Off, Honestly Hijikata is a Real Sap in This, M/M, Sort of Sequel to Morning Light but not Really, The Kids are in Here but Not Really at the Same Time, Two Saps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 20:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20159359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskyisblue/pseuds/theskyisblue
Summary: “You’re part of the family now.”Is this what it took to be family?55 dinners with the children, 45 scoldings, 100 mishaps?





	Counting Figures

**Author's Note:**

> So...it's been a while but exams start a day after tomorrow and of course I decided to finish this fic that's been sitting in my queue for a while. :') 
> 
> I choose the best time to be inspired.

_91 days, 8 hours, 16 minutes and 21 seconds._

Not that Hijikata was counting, but he did classify as a meticulous man, which meant that acknowledging the days filled with never ending happiness where he had Gintoki officially by his side was as easy a task as breathing. 

_87 dates, 10000 arguments, 75 nights spent together._

Put in perspective, the three months seemed like a lifetime though Hijikata really couldn’t complain. 

These were so far the best three months of his life. 

“It’s rare to see you take a day off, Hijikata-san.” 

Hijikata looked up at the voice of the glasses member of Yorozuya, before returning to his task at hand, which was washing the dishes. 

_“I cooked so you clean.” Gintoki tossed him the washcloth, and his partner really couldn’t refuse._

“…I have a lot of vacation days piling up.” Hijikata avoided his gaze, cringing slightly at the lame answer he gave, but Shinpachi didn’t seem to mind. 

“Ah, that’s because you work too hard, Hijikata-san!” Shinpachi sighed, and Hijikata tipped his head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. It wasn’t that what he said was particularly wrong, Hijikata knew that he tended to lead a workaholic life. Time ago, he couldn’t think of anything to do if he wasn’t working, and it also kept his mind off…other things. 

A certain someone. 

But when he and Gintoki had started a relationship…

Other things…specifically _time spent with each other,_ quickly made its way into his list of top priorities. 

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. 

“You’re coming with us to the onsen, right?” 

Startling slightly, Hijikata quickly rescued a dish that almost slipped from his hands, curtesy of his years of trained fast reflexes, and turned to Shinpachi, surprised. 

“I…don’t know? Wouldn’t I be intruding?” Hijikata said slowly, wringing the cloth in his hands before drying up the last of the dishes. He turned so that he was facing him, watching as Shinpachi crossed his arms, leaning against the doorway. 

“Oh, please. Gin-san would throw a fit if you didn’t come along.” Shinpachi snorted in amusement, and Hijikata’s lips twitched, already imagining the dramatics of the perm-head.

“Plus, there’s no way you would be intruding. You’re part of the family now, after all.” 

Hijikata had to process the words for a heartbeat, and when he finally did, Shinpachi had already left. A distant yell of Kagura to ‘hurry up,’ while he was left in the kitchen, dish cloth in hand, shocked to a standstill. 

_“You’re part of the family now.”_

Is this what it took to be family? 

55 dinners with the children, 45 scoldings, 100 mishaps? 

Hijikata’s concept of family was…difficult. The one man he had wanted to protect instead lost his sight because of him and keeping people around who didn’t stick like thornies like Kondo and Sougo made life all the more bleak. He had never experienced the feeling of wanting to share a life with someone intimately, much less thought that he would one day involve himself with a messy, lazy, feisty samurai, who could control his every mood with a single word. 

What was it that Sougo said?

Ah, that he was _“disgustingly smitten.”_

“Hijikata-kun, are you ready to-what are you doing spacing out over there?” 

Hijikata was rarely caught off guard, but at the sudden prompt of his partner’s voice he startled, gaze turning to the silver-headed menace poised almost sinfully beautiful against the doorframe. He was wearing his usual outfit, with the yukata hanging off one shoulder, and before they got together, Hijikata had always wondered why he couldn’t tear his gaze away from this idiot perm. 

Perhaps his heart had been stolen long before he had realized. 

“Glasses told me that I should come along, why was I not informed of this?” Hijikata opted to say instead, careful to keep the thought of ‘I want to jump you right now’ primitively to just his thoughts. Gintoki raised an eyebrow, putting on his best innocent expression. 

“Do you not want to share hot steamy water with my naked body?” Gintoki smirked, and Hijikata almost choked on his own tongue, immediately pushing the mental image away. He glared at Gintoki’s self-satisfying grin, as if knowing _exactly_ what was going on in his mind, and Hijikata straightened. 

_Oh, two can play at this game._

Hijikata closed the distance between them in three strides, slamming his hand against the wall beside Gintoki’s, and with his free hand, squeezed purposefully at his lower back. Leaning in to whisper in his ear, Hijikata made sure to deepen his voice. 

Not that he even needed to try, his entire body just reacts accordingly whenever they were in the same vicinity. 

“I thought we should take it easy after last night, but if you’re this energetic first thing in the morning there’s no need to hold back then.” Hijikata lightly scraped his teeth against the outer shell of Gintoki’s ear, before pulling away and walking off, lips tugging up in a small smile when he heard a loud _thump_ from where they were just standing, and the unmistakable redness spreading down Gintoki’s neck. 

His small smile spread into a wide grin when he heard a small _“that was cruel, Toshi.”_

Cruel, indeed. 

.

.

.

_5 strawberry milks, 20 seaweed packs, 5 bottles of mayonnaise._

Hijikata averted his gaze so that he wasn’t watching Gintoki undress, his toned body folding his clothes neatly into a basket, ducking his head imperceptibly to just peer beyond that flimsy towel tied low around his hip. Strong biceps picked up a stray bucket to pour water on himself, and as two droplets started speeding down his partner’s abs in quick succession, in a race to the finish-

Hijikata was _not_ staring. 

Though he was secretly cheering for the droplet on the left. 

“Nothing beats a relaxing day at the onsen.” Gintoki sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly in exhaustion, and Hijikata watched as the right droplet beat the left one by a mere millisecond and was absorbed by the towel _still_ wrapped around the perm’s waist. 

Ah, well. 

“You’re not even in the water yet.” Hijikata raised an eyebrow, and this time didn’t even try to pretend to turn his gaze as Gintoki _finally_ took off the towel and lowered himself in the steaming water beside him. There were a few others around, but since it wasn’t a holiday or the weekends since his day offs didn’t exactly work that way, he wasn’t exactly surprised by the lack of people. 

“Just _being_ in an onsen relaxes the soul. But of course, with you being a workaholic and a party pooper, this probably isn’t particularly special.” Gintoki snorted, leaning down to gently press his forehead to Hijikata’s shoulder before lifting it again. Hijikata frowned slightly, noticing the slight dip of nervousness in the man’s tone, and turned his head to meet his gaze. 

“I never said that. Just being with you, regardless of the location, is special.” Hijikata found himself saying, and his cheeks only started to gain colour when Gintoki just stared at him, his jaw dropped so low he was sure it would have hit the water by now. 

Bastard. 

“Now stop making me say such sappy shit you asshole. Just enjoy the time we _do_ spend together outside of business.” Hijikata muttered, flicking the silver-head on the forehead, relishing in the slightly pained _‘ouch.’_ Really, his lover could be so obtuse sometimes. 

When will he realize that Hijikata would give up _anything,_ anything and _everything_ to spend the rest of their lives at each other’s side? 

There was a moment of silence, and Hijikata decided to just wait for his partner to break the silence at his own pace and relaxed against the wall as the steamy water soothed his always sore muscles. 

What he didn’t account for, were the arms that suddenly wrapped around him, disturbing the water around them and making a loud _splash._

“Oi, what the fu-get _OFF._” Hijikata hissed, shoving at the arms pinning him in place, and fought back a shiver at the face currently breathing in his neck. 

Fucking hell. 

“We’re in _public._” Hijikata hissed again, but stopped trying to shove Gintoki away, and the samurai huffed. 

“Not like they’ll pay much attention to us anyway.” Gintoki’s voice was slightly muffled from burrowing his head in his chest-thank god he wasn’t breathing into his neck anymore- “I also enjoy any and all time spent with you too.” Gintoki said quietly, and Hijikata had to remember to breathe, though his heart was beating just fine. 

Even if it was currently running 800 miles an hour on pure love for this man in his arms. 

Hijikata was pretty sure Shinpachi was currently not-so-discretely watching them from afar, though it could be difficult to tell with just his glasses glinting off the light in the water. They released each other slowly soon after, and Hijikata’s eyes widened in wonder at how red Gintoki’s cheeks were. He reached forward to gently cup the left side of his face, running a thumb across the cheek, and Gintoki seemed to turn even _redder._

“It’s just from how hot it is.” Gintoki stuttered, quickly turning away, but Hijikata felt a small smile tugging on his lips at how red his ears and neck were turning. 

“Okay.” 

.

.

.

The dividing of rooms was logical, with Hijikata and Gintoki sharing one while Shinpachi and Kagura shared the other. Surprisingly, Kagura, who was always protesting on how she wanted a room all to herself didn’t protest in the least and headed in with Shinpachi obediently. Hijikata noticed that the staff had set up two futons in the room, and as much as Hijikata used to like his space, he automatically started to fold back the other futon, leaving only one in the room. 

“Wow.” 

Hijikata had just placed the futon in the closet neatly when he turned to see Gintoki walking towards the veranda, leaning against the railing. He made his way to stand beside him, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. He lifted his gaze to follow Gintoki’s and lost his breath for a moment at how many stars were currently visible in the sky. Sparkling and shining in the night’s chill, Hijikata turned his gaze to the man standing beside him and smiled softly.

_Beautiful._

“Stop being so sappy and staring at me when you should be watching that shooting star passing by us at this moment.” Gintoki didn’t take his eyes off the sky, and Hijikata snorted before lifting his gaze to the sky again, successfully catching sight of the said shooting star. It streaked across the sky without a care in the world, unaware of the wondered eyes gazing after it. 

_1 day off, 1 wish, a million stars._

“You make a wish?” Hijikata asked, and Gintoki turned his head to now stare at him, his velvet red eyes soft and gentle, a gaze that Hijikata had learned that were only given to those he considered family. Taken aback at the overflowing emotions swirling in them, Hijikata automatically folded himself around Gintoki as he moved closer to lean his whole body against him. He absentmindedly stubbed out the cigarette and placed it in a conveniently placed ashtray. 

As many times as this has happened, Hijikata could never stop his heart from speeding up at the pure trust this gesture portrayed. Their hands wrapped around each other securely, not an inch of space between their bodies. It was probably an inappropriate time to be thinking of that meme Sougo had been telling him a few weeks ago, though he had his own version at the moment. 

_Yeah, sex is great, but have you ever hugged your lover wearing your heart on your sleeve?_

“I prefer to make my own wishes come true with my own power instead of relying on a passing flying piece of ice.” Gintoki murmured into his chest, and Hijikata shook slightly in silent laughter, gently pressing his cheek against the crown of his lover’s head. “Besides…” 

Gintoki pulled away slightly to lean their foreheads together, and Hijikata couldn’t help a small smile, one that was mirrored on the other samurai’s lips. “No wish could ever amount to what I already have. I don’t need any more.” Gintoki rolled his eyes, though affectionately, and not in his usual condescending way when dealing with annoying clients. Hijikata allowed the warmth to spread across his chest, allowed himself to feel so much love for this man. 

They were two samurais, a Yorozuya and a vice-chief of the Shinsengumi. Both have faced a battered past, uncountable losses, and argue about anything and everything almost every day. 

Black and white, yin and yang. 

But when the silver-headed samurai leaned his head on the sturdy shoulder of the vice-chief of the Shinsengumi beside him, they were much more than their titles.

Hijikata tightened his arms around Gintoki and closed his eyes to revel the rare moment of peace and quiet surrounding their chaotic lives. Tomorrow, they would go back to be the vice-chief and Edo’s most notorious tax evader. 

But for now…

They will enjoy this moment. 

_An infinite amount of memories to treasure._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :D Hope you enjoyed sappy Hijikata <3 ;)


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